The Stewart

Who he is

Name

Alan son of Walter (Alan fitz Walter)

Title

Steward (dapifer) of the king of Scots

Since

1177, on the death of his father Walter son of Alan

Born

Not pinned (an adult by the 1170s)

Family

Son of Walter son of Alan, David I's steward (a younger son of the Breton Alan son of Flaald, so kin to the FitzAlans of Oswestry). First wife: Eva (no known children); second wife: Alesta, daughter of Earl Morgan of Mar. Children: Walter (the heir), David (died young), Leonard, Avelina (whom Duncan of Carrick carries off in 1200) and Eupheme.

Confidence

high

Steward to William until his death in 1204. Patron of the Templars and of Paisley Abbey; a tradition (not traceable to the period) has him with Richard on crusade, back in 1191. His family seems to have gained Bute by about 1200, either by force during Clann Somairle's feuds or as a grant from Ragnall for help against Angus; the date is not pinned.

Overlord

King William

What it holds

• Renfrew (burgh and castle) and Strathgryfe: Paisley, Inchinnan, Kilbarchan, Lochwinnoch, Inverkip, Greenock lands
• The Mearns (Renfrewshire), Eaglesham and Neilston lands
• Kyle Stewart: Dundonald, Prestwick (his burgh), Tarbolton, Mauchline lands (Melrose's grange), Sorn
• Innerwick in East Lothian
• Bute, perhaps from about 1200 (not pinned); Rothesay castle is later
• Patronage of Paisley (a Cluniac priory founded by his father in 1163; raised to an abbey only in 1219)

How it was acquired

Grants of David I to his father Walter (from 1136); Bute by conquest or grant about 1200.

Allies and rivals

Paisley Priory; Ragnall mac Somairle (his Paisley grants); rival of Angus mac Somairle; neighbour of the Morville lands in Cunningham; Duncan of Carrick (son-in-law-to-be).

How things stand that morning

Held by Alan. Bute's status this winter is uncertain: it is drawn as occupied by the Stewart.

Wealth

Renfrew's burgh and the Clyde trade; Kyle's farms; the wool of Paisley's granges. No figures.

Military

Knights of Strathgryfe and Kyle; a fleet on the Clyde (thin). No numbers.

Threats

• Clann Somairle's revenge in Bute
• The king's suspicion of Stewart expansion westward

What the year holds

What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.

1. 1200, month not pinnedDuncan of Carrick carries off Alan's daughter Avelina; the king takes pledges.Depends on: Duncan's action Stopped by: A betrothal arranged first
2. 1204 (outside 1200)Alan dies; Walter succeeds as steward.Depends on: Natural death Stopped by: No

Places of note

• Renfrew: Castle and burgh, caput of the Stewart
• Paisley Priory: Cluniac priory founded by Walter son of Alan (1163); an abbey from 1219
• Dundonald: Stewart caput in Kyle

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: Office and core lands well attested; Bute's date is not.

On the map: Bute is drawn as occupied because the date of the Stewart takeover is not pinned.

Primary sources for Scotland

Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.

• Chronicle of Holyrood, Anonymous (canons of Holyrood, Edinburgh) (about 1150 to 1170, with later additions). Gives nothing for 1200: its original text ends in 1163 and the few additions stop before William the Lion's last decades. Read online
• Chronicle of Melrose, Anonymous (monks of Melrose abbey) (about 1173 to 1270, in many hands; the 1200 entries are near contemporary). The main Scottish annal for the year, kept at a Cistercian house on the Tweed. Read online
• Chronicle of Roger of Howden, Roger of Howden (about 1192 to 1201). The fullest single narrative for the year. Read online
• Chronicle of the Kings of Mann and the Isles, Anonymous (monks of Rushen abbey, Mann) (about 1257, with continuations to 1316). The only native record of the kingdom of Mann and the Hebrides. Read online
• History of English Affairs, William of Newburgh (about 1196 to 1198). Ends in 1198, so it gives no 1200 entries of its own; the Stanley continuation has only a line or two for 1200. Read online
• Saga of the Earls of Orkney, Anonymous (Icelandic) (about 1200 to 1230; surviving text mainly from Flateyjarbok, about 1390). The saga's last chapters are about Earl Harald Maddadsson, who in 1200 held Orkney under King Sverre of Norway and Caithness under William the Lion: his long rule, his quarrel with the Scottish king that cost him Caithness in 1196 to 1197, his recovery of it, and the maiming of Bishop John of Caithness and the king's revenge in 1201 to 1202. Read online
• The Registers of Pope Innocent III for 1199 to 1201, Innocent III and the papal chancery (22 February 1199 to 21 February 1201). The pope's outgoing letters for the year, in his chancery's own copy, touching nearly every realm in the atlas. Read online
• The Great Life of Saint Hugh of Lincoln, Adam of Eynsham (about 1210 to 1215). The last book is a day by day account of Hugh's final year by the chaplain who was with him: his dealings with John at the start of the reign, his journey to France and the Grande Chartreuse in 1200, his illness in London, his death at the Old Temple on 16 November 1200 and the funeral at Lincoln on 23 November attended by King John, William the Lion of Scotland, three archbishops and a crowd of bishops and earls. Read online

2 more in the sources library for The British Isles.